Don't Settle

In a previous blog I addressed the lie of thinking that being single is a negative thing.

There is one more myth I would like to address.

"You will never find someone if you stick to those standards. You need to settle. Everyone else does it. It's the only way you will ever find true love."

False. False. False.

I wanted to write a blog on this subject now mostly because I recently had a conversation with a friend about Christians dating non-Christians and a few things caught my attention.

First of all, dating is for marriage. Completely and solely to find the person you are to spend the rest of your life with.

If you disagree, honestly that is a whole other blog topic, but I'll leave you with this.
If you're not ready to get married (age wise or financially) you shouldn't be dating. (Trust me on this one. Don't factor in time. Things go faster than you would think.)
And secondly, if you don't date for marriage, you WILL get your heart broken or break someone else's heart. At that point dating goes from fulfilling God's plan for your life into a selfish form of temporary pleasure. If you still have questions over that one facebook me I'd be happy to talk with you. :)

With that out of the way, I think we need to realize the importance of this topic. This is the second BIGGEST decision of your life. (First being when you accepted Christ's forgiveness and became an adopted Son or Daughter - again, if you have any questions, facebook me. :) I honestly believe that Satan is slowly deceiving us into blending in with the world.

Flirting is no big deal. Dating is no big deal. Marriage is no big deal. Adultery is no big deal. Divorce is no big deal.

It. Is. A. Big. Deal. Don't be deceived. Satan is slowly winning this battle and we can't let it happen. We as believers are not of this world and we need to start acting like it! It is not okay to blend in because we don't belong here!

Before I get too excited, I need to address a statement I heard earlier. "The bible says to minister the Spiritually blind, and if you had a close enough relationship with a non-Believer that you would date them, then you'd be able to minister to them even better." Now, I absolutely love the person that sent this to me and I consider them a great friend, but I respectfully disagree.

By saying that we need to act like we don't belong here I am in no way saying that we need to hide our lights under bowls. (Matt. 5:14-16) We are specifically called to be a light to the non-Believers several times throughout the Bible, but we need to be on guard. Yes, we need to build friendships with the sons and daughters of the world so that we can shine in their lives and be Jesus to them, but dating them is completely crossing the line.

If dating is solely for marriage, which I believe it is, and when you are married, the two become one, which I believe is true, how can it be possible to be one with an unbeliever??

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says it best. I can't imagine being in a union with a person who didn't share my foundation of life, passion behind my every move and breathe, purpose of my life, hope for the future, and faith in the unseen.

I honestly believe that if you are a sold-out, in love, desperate, Christ follower, than this would be repulsive to you. You would have absolutely nothing in common with a non-Believer, your entire world would be completely different. Even if it wasn't completely against the word of God, marriage, or dating, an unbeliever would be discouraging and just miserable to both parts.

Now I realize that may have been harsh and if you don't agree, again, talk to me. :) Also, I know I only addressed part of that statement, the other referring to the benefit of ministering to an unbelieving partner.

In short, God gives us specific instructions and examples of leading people to Christ and showing them Jesus love, and oddly enough, none of those stories including the yoking of a believer to a non-believer.

In closing, don't settle. God has everything already planned out for your life (Jer. 29:11), including your spouse. So be still, know that He is God (Psalm 46:10) and don't worry about what your Heavenly Father already has completely under control. (Matt. 6:34)

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -John 6:33

Don't miss out on the amazing joys God has for you in marriage. Don't forfeit God's plan and settle for your own, because honestly? Our plans for our lives are laughable compared to His. How exciting. :)

We Declare War

Shrieks of terror fill the air. The clash of armor and weapons ring out. Blood covers sweat filled pores. One by one, men fall.


We are in a war.

A young man in a dirty uniform stood, rifle loosely held in his bandaged hands. The enemy was approaching fast. 

We can not afford to be distracted.

The boy  failed to be alert to his surroundings, he was completely unaware. He turned and met his foe face to face. But only for a moment. 

Putting our guard down is fatal. 

A shot fired. The boy fell to the ground.

We can not take this lightly any longer. The Devil and his demons are upon us and they are blood thirsty. We can not stand back and pretend this isn't real. No one would dare going into a war empty handed, why do we think that we can go about life without armor? Things are happening, God is on the move and Satan doesn't like it one bit.


We are children of the Living and Active God. Our Father gives us everything we need to completely abolish Satan in his tacks, yet we constantly forget that the same power that conquered the grave LIVES IN US. This is huge. We have the power to move mountains, scatter fears, and evaporate lies. 


"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -2 Corinthians 10:3


"If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is for us, what could stand against?"


Answer: Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING. :)


I wish, with all my heart, that I could wrap my mind around that thought. That nothing can stand between us and God. Not. One. Thing. 


Twisted and bloody, lifeless bodies lie motionless on the dark, smoke covered ground. Night falls. The enemy retreats, their stomachs full of satisfaction, their teeth and claws dripping with blood.


Nothing can come between us and God.


Silently, a heavy and heavenly breath consumes the battle field like a relieving mist. What once were lifeless lungs, take in breath. Slowly the field starts to move. Bodies arise with the sunlight. Eyes are opened, ears are restored, wounds are healed. The dead have come to life. 


Through Christ, we are given a second chance to fight.

A young man in a newly clean uniform stood, rifle tightly held in his strong hands. The enemy was approaching fast. 

The boy was completely alert to his surroundings, entirely aware. He turned and met his foe face to face. But only for a moment. 

A shot fired. The enemy fell to the ground.

Let's fight.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -Ephesians 6:12

Two Isn't Always Better Than One...

"Look at you. You are such a failure. You've been single for almost a year now. No one wants to date you and no one ever will, especially if you keep your standards so high. What are you expecting, Mr. (or Mrs.) Perfect? Get real. You're going to have to settle. Everyone else does. And you better settle fast because you are the only one who isn't dating right now. Such a failure..."


Lies. Lies. Lies. 


Yet we are so quick to believe every word. We live in a culture that says you are a reject if you aren't in a relationship. Every movie, song, commercial is about "love" and being with the opposite sex. But is this really what life is all about?


Obviously not. But it's easy to get sucked into isn't it?


We treat dating like a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Everyone sits in a circle and if your desperate enough, and loud enough, or popular enough, then you just might get tagged and chased. The same people get tagged and chased and tagged and chased and you just sit on the side lines wishing someone would tag you. Finally, someone touches your head. You don't think twice about whether or not your going to marry the person or whether their standards match up with yours, they tagged you! That's what you've been waiting for and it finally happened to you! So you run full speed ahead with very little thought and you're in the game. 


Being single is not the "mush pot" that we get stuck in every once and a while and we just have to wait it out until we can get back into the real game of boy chases girl. This is a lie from Hell. 


But why in the world would Satan lie about that? Because he knows how valuable our single years are. He knows that God has a special plan and special tasks for us to do in our single years that we can't accomplish at any other time in our life. Once those years are gone, they're gone. And Satan wants with all his heart to distract us and brainwash us into thinking those years are a curse. Because in reality? The thought of us actually believing that our single years are a gift, and following God's plan for us in our single lives scares the Devil to death. 


This is a time in our lives that we can't afford to lose. God has a list of things we need to do for Him at this point in our lives that we just can't do when we are married. It's a big deal how we choose to spend this time. This is a God given opportunity. 


You have the whole rest of your life to be with the person of your dreams. Why rush it now and impose on the few precious single years God's given you? 


We've all heard the expression, "This is your life, you only get one, spend it wisely." Or something to that extent. Well I want to change it up a bit.


This is your single life. You only get one. Spend it wisely.


"What can I say? And what can I do? But offer this heart, oh God. Completely to You."

Send Me

Tomorrow I leave for Belize. I am honestly so excited I can't even tell you. I can already feel God working through this trip. As I was thinking and preparing for this trip I was going over some of the things I would usually pray for on this trip and realized that I honestly had the wrong perspective all together. 

"Send us home safe, let everything go smoothly..." This is the first thing we usually pray for when we leave home to do God's work, but as I thought about what I was really saying I realized that safety is not what I want at all. God isn't always safe. He compares His love for us like an ocean and if you've ever been swallowed up in a wave you know that it's not the safest most comfortable experience. Bottom line is that God is not a comfortable God, so that shouldn't be my prayer. 

Instead my prayer is this. That I would be so bold that nothing could stop me from spewing Jesus everywhere! I WANT God to change my plans. I want everything to fall apart because I do NOT want to be comfortable. When do we fall asleep? When we are most comfortable. That's great when we go to bed, but spiritually, what a nightmare! I want to be anything but comfortable because I don't want to miss out on anything.

Another thing we pray for is that God would show up or that God would work. Hellloooo. God ALWAYS shows up! He has NEVER once failed in that area and I doubt that He would all the sudden decide not to show up one day. The real problem is that we are so distracted by our pride and apathy that we can't hear or see God even though He shows up every time! So let's stop praying that God would work or that God would show up and start praying that we would set aside ourselves and lay everything on the line to hear His voice! Let's be sensitive to His calling and let Him work in us! Let's make ourselves nothing so that God can be our everything. 

Thirdly, we need to take it seriously. I feel like so much of the time we go through the motions of the trips or camps and we rely on God to bring everything to the table for us. We expect Him to change us just because we are simply getting on a bus or plane. And don't get me wrong! He does change us and He does use us, but how much more could He use us if we prepared our hearts to meet Him, if we eagerly and constantly sought Him out every second, can you even imagine?? We need to take these opportunities seriously. Not everyone gets the chance to go on these trips, how tragic would it be to just go through the motions and not soak up everything God had to offer! 

Lastly, our mission does not start or end because we went on a trip somewhere. This world is FULL of people that we come into contact with every day that are walking DEAD. We talk to and interact with people everyday that are going to Hell if we don't set aside our pride and the risk of an awkward situation to save souls! Someday we are all going to see Jesus face to face and He is going to point out every situation and opportunity we had to change someones eternity and He is going to tell us the heartbreaking story of how we sold that opportunity because we were blinded by our selfishness and our pride. I don't want to be the person who sold that amazing gift of sharing Jesus because I was scared of an awkward situation or of my own safety. 

So God, I pray for boldness. I am begging you to crush my pride. I thank you for the opportunities I know you will give me and for the hearts I know you have already prepared. I pray that you would make me so small that all anyone can see is you. I pray that I would carry Jesus name where ever I go. I pray that I would never underestimate your power and your plan. Destroy my expectations. God, send me.